Dance + Documentary Highlight Local Dance Legacy And AIDS Advocate

Verb Ballets, Northeast Ohio's premiere contemporary ballet company, continues the celebration of the life and work of Ian Horvath (1943-1990) on Sunday, February 10, 2019 at 2:00 pm in a matinee performance at the Akron-Summit County Public Library Auditorium. The performance will honor Horvath's impact on dance and will recognize his work as an AIDS advocate. Horvath was best known in Cleveland as a founder of the Cleveland Ballet and a former soloist with the Joffrey Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. Later, he was the Producing Director of the Jose Limon Dance Foundation. Tragically, he lost his battle to AIDS at the age of 46.

His legacy will live on through this special matinee highlighting his first and last works plus excerpts of interviews from the documentary celebrating Horvath's life. The show will also involve a panel discussion on the AIDS epidemic and its impact on a generation of dancers, who were lost to the disease. This performance is generously supported by the Peg's Foundation and the Akron Community Foundation.

For the past three years, Margaret Mullin and Nel Shelby Productions, have been creating the documentary film, No Dominion: The Ian Horvath Story. Verb Ballets is honored to be involved in this remarkable documentary. Verb Ballets' Producing Artistic Director, Dr. Margaret Carlson, was instrumental in filming the ballets for the documentary owing to her role as regisseur (producing rehearsal director) for Horvath's works. Carlson was a founding member of Cleveland Ballet. In addition to the interviews, they have produced two of Horvath's first and last works for the documentary performed by top dancers from Pacific Northwest Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Boston Ballet, Ballet Tucson and Verb Ballets. The documentary film is in final production in preparation for screenings at national film festivals.

Mullin, a renowned soloist with Pacific Northwest Ballet, is also the director and producer of the upcoming documentary. Mullin went to Cleveland to set Horvath's No Dominion on Verb Ballets the first week of January. Horvath choreographed his final work No Dominion, for the Jose Limon Dance Company in 1988. Set to Sir William Walton's cello concerto, the work for an all-male cast is a reflection on Horvath's impending death from AIDS. No Dominion takes its title from the poem "And Death Shall Have No Dominion," by Dylan Thomas.

Horvath's first work, Laura's Women, was inspired by the life and music of blues singer, Laura Nyro. Created in 1974, it tells the story of three women caught in a world of poverty and loneliness at three different stages of life. Laura's Women has touched audiences for more than 45 years and remains timeless in its impact. Verb Ballets Producing Artistic Director, Dr. Margaret Carlson is a former Cleveland Ballet principal dancer and performed in the original cast. As regisseur, she has set the work on the companies throughout the US as well as for the documentary.

With a rich 30-year history, Verb Ballets is one of the oldest dance companies in the region. The internationally acclaimed and regionally loved professional ballet company lets audiences experience the beauty of movement and inspires creativity. Verb Ballets was named one of Five Great Tiny Troupes in America by Dance Magazine and was one of the "25 dance companies in America to watch." Under the direction of Dr. Margaret Carlson, Producing Artistic Director, and Richard Dickinson, Associate Artistic Director, the company mounts exciting projects that embrace diversity, history, and cultural exchange.

Verb Ballets' performance on February 10, 2019, at 2:00 pm will take place at the Akron-Summit County Public Library Auditorium 60 South High Street, Akron, OH 44326. Single tickets are $10. Tickets are sold through Eventbrite at verbballets.org. For more information, visit www.verbballets.org. Sunday, February 10, 2019 2:00PM No Dominion: Celebrating the Life of Ian Horvath Akron-Summit County Public Library Auditorium 60 South High Street, Akron, OH 44326 Tickets: $10,

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